I haven't been good at focusing on my blog lately. On the other hand, I have been very focused on organizing and getting my house up to snuff. It's all about routine. Now that I've done 2 deep cleans and have a cleaning schedule that I have been good at sticking too, my home feels much more relaxed.

The next part to get back into focus is our eating plan. I have started the 21 Day fix by beachbody and, as always, find the food plan to be the most difficult thing to tackle. This week's menu plan is colour coded for me and took a little time to put together because I was desperately trying to achieve the right balance of food for my calorie intake. I also had to come up with meals that worked for me, that my kids would eat AND that are Whole 9 (Whole 30) compliant.

Here is what I've come up with:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
AM Workout	TOTAL BODY FIX	UPPER FIX	LOWER FIX	PILATES	CARDIO FIX	DIRTY 30	YOGA FIX
Breakfast	2 Egg Spinach Coffee ½ cup Skim milk	Shakeology ½ cup Skim milk Coffee ½ cup Skim milk	Shakeology ½ cup Almond milk Coffee ½ cup Skim milk	Shakeology Coffee ½ cup Skim milk	Shakeology ½ cup Skim milk Coffee ½ cup Skim milk	Shakeology ½ cup Almond milk Coffee ½ cup Skim milk	Oatmeal (2) Coffee ½ cup Skim milk
Snack	Grapes/ strawberries	Apple Almond butter (3)	Grapes/ strawberries	Apple Almond butter (3)	Banana (2)	Apple Almond butter (3)	Banana (2)
Lunch	Shakeology Almond butter (3)	Chicken Boston lettuce Goat cheese Tomato peppers dressing	Paleo Chili Red 2 Green 2	Salmon Quinoa Broccoli	Chicken Boston lettuce Goat cheese Tomato peppers dressing	Oatmeal Carrots	Shakeology
Snack	Melon Baby carrots	Grapes/ strawberries	Almonds	Almonds Grapes/ strawberries	Baby carrots Apple	Grapes	Almonds
Dinner	Taco Beef Tortilla (2) Lettuce Tomato Cheese salsa	Paleo Chili Red 2 Green 2	Salmon Quinoa Broccoli	Chicken Stir fry Brown Rice	Chicken Sweet potato broccoli	Spinach Egg Mushrooms Peppers Strawberries Cheese Dressing
PM Workout	Run		Run		Run		Run

I know, I don't have Saturday figured out for supper but I'll figure that out later. One thing I don't like is that there is a lot of repetition. I will try to mix it up a little better next week but for now it will do. I have been dabbling in the 21 Day fix for about 3 weeks now and it's time to really focus. 

I have found a number of meal plans online that were really helpful in getting this plan finished. It's a lot of information and when you've been making okay choices, but the serving size may be off  you aren't going to get any where. I've got the Bluenose in May (I say that like I'm running a marathon- I'm doing the 5k or 10k, feels like a marathon for me) and while I've dropped some weight with the Whole 30, I'll be able to get through it a lot easier with more weight gone. 

8 down...72 to go!

Happy Whole 30!

We've reached the end of our Whole 30!

 This morning I put on a pair of pants that haven't fit me in 6 months and weighed in about 8lbs less than I did 30 days ago. Gordon is down about 14lbs (stupid men and their ability to lose way more weight with way less effort). The biggest impact for Gordon has been that his blood sugars are lower and more level and he is not using near as much insulin, which is a good thing!

I no longer have a "slump" at 10am or 3pm and I really find that I don't get to the point of feeling like I'm starving at the end of the day. I think we both would have had way more drastic weight results if we had been perfect at following the Whole 30 but I we did what we could do within our limits. While I tried to go without my Tassimo skinny latte it just didn't work. Coffee with no sweetener and coconut milk did nothing for me. So I kept my latte and my headaches stopped. I didn't eat any other dairy so really 4oz of skim latte milk wasn't going to kill me. (even though it really was against the rules)...and there was that time I caved in a meeting and ate half a muffin...and was sick for hours after. It was my own fault for not planning well and forgetting my lunch that day).

I feel less bloated and have found that since my sinus infection and congestion have cleared up, I have more energy at the end of the day. Before I would put the kids to bed and crash but in the past week or so (yes we've all been sick off and on since mid-January) I have actually been able to stay up and work on my own to do list and spend time with G. That is a major positive for me because I haven't been able to do that without feeling completely drained the next day in a very long time.

I also have way better control of my eating now. I have made cookies, muffins and scones all within the last few days for various upcoming events and I didn't feel the urge to eat all of the cookie dough or sample the finished product. I really wanted to get to day 30 without breaking the rules too badly. I felt good to have a real feeling of control over the food instead of the food having control of me.

I know that a strict Paleo diet is not in our future but I can really see us following a flexible version of a Paleo diet (Paleo-ish if you will). I plan on keeping our diet mostly gluten free and dairy and sugar restricted. I've found a lot of great recipes that my kids do like and my approach to making and cooking a meal plan for one week versus two on the weekend worked really well this week.

If you have made it to the end of this long, picture-less post thanks for sticking with me! I'm going to stay on this journey and will be posting some of our yummy meals and see where this path leads!

Whole 30 Meal Plan Week 4

I admit I almost called time out on the Whole 30 this week. My kids won't eat anything and it is beyond frustrating to have spent all that time prepping and cooking for the week and still having to cook something at dinner time for the kids. I know I shouldn't do that but they truly are refusing to eat and I can not solely feed them scrambled eggs every meal.

I am only cooking for one week this time. That way I won't spend so much time in the kitchen on Sunday and we'll have a little more variety. Here's the plan

photo credit: photos are from the blogs that the recipes link to.


Breakfasts:
Bacon pancakes
Peppers, sausage and eggs

Lunches:
Left overs
Tuna fish patties/ salad
Chicken soup (I'll blitz the veggies used to make the broth to thicken the soup a little. Thank you to the Fabulous Kelly H for that tip!)

Dinners:
Bunless burger with baked sweet potato "fries"
Slow cooker Southwest Chicken
BBQ Chicken stuffed Sweet Potatos (This is by far my favorite Whole 30 friendly meal yet. I did add Epicure Roasted Red Pepper spice it the sauce and what a kick it gave!)
Beef Stew
Pork roast, carrots and Brussel Sprouts

Once a Month Meals (formerly Once a Month Mom) has some great menus and I'm grateful for their diversity. I've found so many great food blogs as a result of clicking a link to a recipe! Also makes my list making a bit easier. One of these days I should pay for a membership and have all the work (save for paying for the groceries and meal assembly) done for me....That would be a great gift if anyone is pondering what to get me for any occasion...like a special Just because it's Saturday gift? lol

Mojo? Where you go?

I don't know if it's the weather or the lack of sugar but I'm feeling pretty blah. On one "health" hand I feel great!  I eating better than I have in a very long time and I no longer hit the 10am and 3pm slumps where I used to drop what I was doing and frantically reach for another hit or coffee or sugar to to make it through the morning/afternoon. I've lost a few pounds and feel less "puffy".

On the other "health" hand I feel like crap. My sinuses are clogged, my head has been in a vice grip and my eye is watering like Niagara falls.  I know its all weather related and since we've had both winter and spring this week I'm not surprised. But I am over it. Enough already!

Creatively, A Squared Designs is still on a winter break. I've taken on just a couple of custom orders but am otherwise working on a few of my own projects...well I would be if I could get my mojo going. I keep waiting for inspiration to strike to tackle the quilts I've got in various stages, finish the thrown pillows and put my plan in action for Kids Clothes Week. I don't even have the desire to go to the fabric store for inspiration. *GASP!* Yes I said it, buying fabric doesn't excite me and the local fabric shop has buy 1 get 2 free on right now. Yes I'm serious. No I'm not kidding.

Source

Apparently there are a few of us mompreneurs who are dealing with the same creative burnout following the holidays. I think it has more to do with this gray weather than any actual creative burnout.

This weekend I am going to force myself to get out of this rut. I will sit down and organize my fabrics for KCW and I will spend an hour on one quilt and attempt to get through my workout without my head exploding. Maybe forcing myself to accomplish something will build momentum.

Here's hoping tomorrow is a creative day :)

Whole 30~ Week 2 & 3 Meal Plan

Well it's day 6 of the Whole 30. We haven't been perfect but we're getting there. Part of my problem this week has been a bit of poor planning. I knew what we were going to eat but honestly by Friday night I was exhausted and the kids had cheese pizza for supper because I just didn't want to cook. Last night I planned for the next two weeks and will do a cook day on Sunday and as an added bonus if this works out as planned, we'll be under budget for our groceries over the 2 week period! Here's what will be on our plates this week (and next):

Breakfasts

• Scrambled eggs & bacon
• egg/ veggie muffins
• smoothies & Paleo banana pancakes (had these this morning and they were pretty good!)
• Paleo breakfast cookies (I'm using dried fruit not chocolate chips)

Lunches

• left overs
• Red thai curry spaghetti squash
• Butternut squash soup
• Salads with a protein

Suppers

• Pork roast and roasted veggies
• BBQ Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
• Sausage and peppers
• Chili (no beans!) 
• left overs

Snacks

• Apples with almond butter (I'm in love with this!)
• Energy bites (probably just the "brownie" bites)
• raw veggies

I'm doubling the recipes and freezing half of every dish so that we have meals ready for next week. Now that I'm back to work full time, it's a daily headache to figure out who is going to eat what for three meals a day. That bloody "What's for dinner?" conversation is happening again...